


Torven's Journey

by Volegase



Category: Action!, Battle - Fandom, Championship - Fandom, Competition - Fandom, Competitive - Fandom, Fight - Fandom, Journey - Fandom, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Battling - Fandom, Volegase, hero - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-05-24 12:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14954627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Volegase/pseuds/Volegase
Summary: Torven is one of the best trainers around. However, nobody seems to like him and he can't beat the top trainers. How will he show just how amazing he is if he keeps losing in the finals? Join him as he tries to figure out just what he is missing from being the best!





	1. Unstoppable Force

                It was never difficult for Torven. Being a Pokémon trainer came easy to him. The moment he could read, he studied books about Pokémon. He learned as much as he could about types, advantages, weaknesses, and how they all blended together. When other kids were playing outside, he was training himself. He wasn’t great in school, but he didn’t care. He knew that becoming a Pokémon trainer would be his life goal, not to be some electrician or engineer. The weak ones around him, that’s who school was for.

                Torven detested the weak. He would watch battle videos from the tournaments across his home continent of Kanto, mocking those who lost. He would point out, in detail, the failures in their strategies.

                “Go ahead, take your pick,” Oak said, gesturing out to the Pokeballs.

                Torven was getting his first Pokémon relatively late compared to most trainers. He had gone to trainer school, scoring top marks the entire time. He received his first Pokémon at his graduation when he was eighteen years old. This put him older than a few of his peers, but it didn’t matter to him. They’d all know him soon enough.

                Torven immediately took the water Pokémon’s ball. Throwing it out, he let loose Squirtle. Oak was surprised at his speed as well as how quickly he had reached for the water type.

                “Most kids your age go for Charmander,” Oak confessed.

                “Most kids aren’t the best,” was all Torven responded as he beckoned Squirtle along with him. “I can’t stay to talk. I have work to do.”

                A Pidgey was Torven’s first encounter, flying at him full speed. Torven commanded as Squirtle deftly dodged the first strike. Squirtle came back at it as Pidgey turned around. It was tackled to the ground, defeated swiftly. Torven continued walking, leaving the defeated Pidgey as he did so. Squirtle followed behind. He was relentless, never stopping for too long. One of the Pidgeys took a hit, coming back at Squirtle and were greeted with a Pokeball. Torven caught the Pidgey with no problem.

                In his first week, he traveled to Viridian City. He caught every new Pokémon he saw, but always waited for the strongest one. He looked over the different Pokémon, certain that they were unable to help him. He started by discarding them into the PC, but quickly realized this was a waste of his time. He instead decided to simply let the professor keep them or give them away to random people.

                His first battle was more of the same.

                “Rattata, let’s go!” The kid yelled as Rattata ran at Squirtle.

                At Torven’s command, the water type quickly smashed into it. Before the kid could react, Squirtle slammed the Pokémon into the ground, knocking it out. As the kid’s eyes started to water, Torven walked by him, pulling out his Pokedex as he did so.

                “Take this,” he said, transferring over the Mankey he had caught. “Don’t suck so much.”

                The kid accepted it, confused. Before he could even respond, Torven continued walking.

                Viridian Forest was a joke. Torven felt insulted by the bug type users. He and Squirtle swiftly decimated them, leaving the woods after only a day. He caught a Caterpie and Weedle that he swiftly dropped on other trainers.

                “Bug types will never get you far,” Torven hissed, making a show of dropping the Pokeball as he did so. “You’re wasting your time here.”

                Torven didn’t need extra Pokémon added to his team that weren’t going to do anything other than gather dust. After a while, he even started reconsidering bothering to catch them. He was originally going to so that he could complete the Pokedex, but it seemed so meaningless to him now.

He stopped at the Pewter City Pokémon Center to rest. He noticed that many trainers there were ones that he had fought. Some of the Pokémon were carrying some heavy damage. A few of them saw him and started talking. Torven didn’t particularly like that. Approaching them, Squirtle at his side, Torven was ready to tell them off.

“What’s your problem?” Torven said, having approached a group of three trainers.

“You! Your Squirtle was way too rough with my Caterpie!” The girl spoke first. “It’s going to take forever to recover!”

“Yeah! It also gave my Rattata a concussion. That isn’t cool dude!” The kid next to her spoke up. “What’s even your problem?”

“Weak trainers like you walking around are the real issue,” Torven said, shrugging. “You shouldn’t challenge me if you are going to put forth such weak effort. It’s not my fault Squirtle is so much stronger than all of yours.”

At this compliment, Squirtle puffed up his chest. He wasn’t used to compliments from his trainer, but this one filled him with pride. Torven shot him a glare that made him back off a bit. With that, Torven turned back to the group.

“The sad part is that my Pokémon beat all of you, in a row, without any kind of healing between it or even rest,” Torven laughed. “Can you believe that?”

Torven laughed at the group as they steamed. He didn’t care, they were worthless stepping stones towards his goal.

“I think I’ve seen enough!” A voice filled the room.

Looking over towards the voice, he saw a girl wearing some kind of scout uniform. She was shorter than Torven but approached him with confidence. She looked up at him defiantly.

“Who are you?” Torven asked.

“Names Jade,” she responded. “I’m currently training at Pewter City Gym.”

“Oh, you’re one of those gym trainers,” Torven replied, a sudden fire in his eyes. “That must mean you’re pretty tough, right?”

The girl was taken aback by Torven’s sudden interest. She gulped, regaining her composure as she did so.

“Yes, I am. I suggest you stop bullying these trainers and pick on somebody your own size,” Jade responded.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go Squirtle!” Torven shouted.

The two were soon outside the center. Squirtle was already outside his ball, ready to battle after a short rest. Opposite them was Jade. She held her Pokeball for a moment, looking at Torven as she did so.

“Is that it?” Jade asked. “Don’t you want to at least see what I have first?”

“Squirtle is all I have,” Torven replied. “He is all I’ll need.”

“Yeah right,” Jade shouted back, throwing out her Sandshrew. “We’ll see about that.”

Torven smirked as Squirtle rushed in at the Sandshrew. The two hit each other, bouncing off to their opposing sides, catching the dirt as they did so.

Torven noticed a few of the trainers had come outside to see them. They were in awe seeing Jade battle. Torven figured that they rarely saw anybody good, so even though Jade was better than them, it didn’t matter much to him. Either way, he would end this match.

“Squirtle go in with tackle!” Torven shouted as Squirtle dove in at Sandshrew.

“Too easy! Rollout!” Jade said.

The two met, but Squirtle took the blunt of the blow, recoiling back to Torven. Jade laughed as rollout came back around at him. Torven didn’t seem phased, but she noticed how Squirtle was already barely standing as she drove in at him.

“Alright, that’s good enough. Squirtle use bubble!”

Squirtle opened his mouth wide as a surge of bubble came out. The Sandshrew flew right into it, unable to stop its momentum. It fell out of the roll in a tumble, rolling to the ground next to Squirtle. Jade looked surprised as the match ended and their Pokedex’s exchanged cash.

“Why did that do so much damage?” Jade asked.

Torven didn’t answer, instead heading into the center to get his Pokémon rested up. Jade wasn’t the first person to underestimate him, and she wouldn’t be the last. Torven would make sure of that.

~

                The Pewter City gym. Torven’s first step towards showing everyone how much power he had in him. Squirtle was more than a match for anything Brock had. He knew it would be tough, gym leaders weren’t push overs. But still, he was confident.

                “You sure you’re ready for this kid? You’ve only been a trainer for a week,” Brock commented. “Gym leaders are far tougher than you’d imagine.”

                “I think I might be over prepared,” Torven said, handling his pokeball.

                Brock checked his Pokedex as he sent the challenge. A simple two versus two for a beginner trainer. To Brock’s shock, he noticed that Torven only had one Pokémon. Shaking his head, Brock felt bad for the kid. He was clearly new to this trainer thing and one of the first things he had done was walk straight to a gym leader. Either way, he accepted the challenge. Brock figured that at least this would be a learning experience.

                That was, until the match started.

                Geodude connected with the Squirtle, making the turtle shudder. However, Brock noticed it had taken the hit well. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for Squirtle to knockout his Geodude, but he still had his ace in waiting.

                “Bubble, close range!” Torven shouted.

                The bubble completely decimated the Geodude, sending it reeling as it did so. Brock returned the Geodude, throwing out the Onix. He felt that the kid had an aura to him, something that made him excited to battle. His Squirtle was undeniably powerful, but there was something more. Usually Brock enjoyed the look that new trainers had when they saw his Onix, but this kid was different. His face was stone cold and calculating.

                “Let’s finish this,” was all Torven said. “Bubble attack.”

                The bubbles shot out quickly to envelop Onix. It blasted the rock Pokémon repeatedly. Brock smiled, knowing that Onix’s ability would hold true. As the blast ended, he smiled at Torven.

                “Unfortunately, young man, Onix has an ability called Sturdy,” Brock said as he went to check his Pokedex. “One attack isn’t enough to put him down. Not only that but a quick slam from him will finish off your Squirtle.”

                Before Brock could even finish his sentence, Onix fell to the floor, defeated. Torven didn’t even respond, merely checking his Pokedex to see if Brock had awarded the badge.

                “How did you do that?” Brock asked, but Torven was already moving onto the next gym.

                “Even the toughest Pokémon can’t stop overwhelming power.”

                The trainers in attendance were confused. Onix had clearly been at full health, but Squirtle had knocked it out clean. Jade silently cursed Brock. She couldn’t believe that jerk had won so easily. There had to be something going on. Jade didn’t know what it was, but she swore she would get to the bottom of this.

                Walking outside the gym, Torven checked his Dex to see where the next gym was.

                “Cerulean City, water type gym leader named Misty,” Torven said, looking down at his Squirtle who was still panting. “Don’t get hit next time and it won’t slow us down.”

                Squirtle looked up at his trainer. Torven gave him a nod with an ever so slight smile on his face. That was all Squirtle needed to keep following Torven. Something about that confidence just felt intoxicating. Squirtle was frustrated with his actions, but he did enjoy feeling the power that came with Torven.

                Torven headed to the Pokémon Center. A stop there and at the market would be all he needed before going through the cave.

Wartortle slammed into the Zubat, sending it spiraling into the wall. Torven checked his Dex as it loaded up his victory. Checking his win counter, Torven grimaced. Traveling from Pewter City to Cerulean was taking longer than expected, but his real pain was just how few wins he had gathered up. Looking down at Wartortle, he noticed that the turtle was getting tired. Torven asked to make sure it was still in fighting condition. The turtle shared his enthusiasm, confirming it was okay.

                As they fought their way through, Torven noticed a fossil. Picking it up as he went. It shined orange in the soft light of the cave. Thinking very little of it, Torven moved onwards.

~

                “Staryu, you’re up!” Misty shouted as the Pokémon took the field.

                Torven only nodded as Wartortle stepped forward. In a flash of movement, the two clashed. Staryu jumped back to get distance, but Wartortle was upon it. A quick bite and the Wartortle spun the Staryu around. He slammed it into the ground. Staryu tried to escape, but another bite ended it. 

                Starmie came out next, blasting a wave of water at the Wartortle. By Torven’s command, Wartortle used Rapid spin, breaking through the attack. Before Starmie could react, Wartortle grabbed it with its mouth. It spun around, flinging the Pokémon into the wall and sending it crashing down below. Misty was stunned as she rewarded the badge.

                Next was Route 9. Torven left it as a warzone. The random trainers running around weren’t a match for him anymore as Wartortle tore through them. Feeling cheated, Torven started to wonder if any kind of strategy even mattered for him. Wartortle seemed to shut everything down on his first try without any issues.

                Still, looking down at Wartortle, Torven noticed that he was slowing down. Doing all the battling constantly was clearly slowing Torven. He decided that the best option was to find a partner.

                Both Geodudes fell before Wartortle in the Rock tunnel. The opposing trainer looked at him with awe, even two on one it wasn’t close.

                “Pathetic,” Torven said, checking his winnings as it gave him a measly two hundred. “Try harder.”  
                The man grunted as he picked up his Geodude and left the cave. Torven turned his attention back into the room around him. Looking over it, he noticed a gray skinned Pokémon. He quickly flipped over his Dex and realized that he was looking at a Machop.

                “Perfect, Wartortle you want a sidekick?” Torven smiled, stepping towards the Machop.

                His Wartortle was incredibly tired but nodded as it walked along with him. The two approached the Machop as Torven prepared to catch it. The Machop looked at him with a confused look before seeing the Wartortle.

                “Hey, I planned on catching you to join my team,” Torven announced.

                Machop growled, putting up it’s fists. Torven laughed.

                “Feisty one, huh? I like that,” Torven smiled. “Wartortle let’s show him what we can do.”  
                Wartortle ran in at the Machop. The two collided, but Torven noticed that Wartortle seemed to be a bit off balance after the hit. Checking his Dex, he realized it was because he was so tired. Cursing himself, he decided to look into a better tactic than straight forward attacking. This was what he had trained for.

                “Withdraw!” Torven commanded.

                Wartortle looked back with confusion as a karate chop it him across the face. Wartortle slammed into the ground hard. Slowly standing up, Torven caught a glimpse of pride in the Machop’s eyes.

                “You need to listen to my commands, you’re in no shape to be in a slug fest,” Torven shouted.

                Wartortle looked at Torven, it’s pride shattered a bit, but it looked ready to go again.

                “Alright, let’s go with Bubble Beam,” Torven said.

                The bubbles hit Machop, but it brushed them away as it ran at Wartortle, it’s hand glowing with another karate chop. Torven smiled, a glint in his eye.

                “Now Withdraw!”

                Wartortle shot into his shell as the Karate Chop landed outside it, bouncing off.

                “Come out with a Bite attack!”

                Wartortle quickly shot out of his shell, diving onto the Machop. He grabbed it with his jaws, swinging it around and tossing it into the cave wall. Machop hit the wall, falling to the ground. With that moment, Torven threw his Pokeball at it. The perfect throw and the perfect catch, Torven had his second Pokémon.

                As the two walked out of the cave for some much-needed rest, Torven couldn’t help but muse about how the hardest battle he had so far was a wild Pokémon. Looking at the Machop’s stats in his Dex, he decided this one was worth keeping. He didn’t need to see the others, this Machop was all he needed. A sidekick to his main dish.

                However, there did seem to be a problem. Checking the evolution requirements, he noticed Machamp came from a trade. That would be a bother for Torven, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, he needed to practice for the next gym.

~

                The next day, he had Machop and Wartortle spar. Figuring it was faster than training them against the nearby weak trainers, Torven needed Machop to catch up to Wartortle’s level and fast.

                By having them fight each other, they would learn to work together and get stronger faster. The two clashed, Wartortle clearly having the upper hand as it thrashed Machop. The battle was over quickly and Torven stood up to take Machop to the center. However, to his surprise, it waved him off as it stood up again.

                Pulling out his Dex, Torven check the Machop. He noticed it was also a male, much like Wartortle. Perhaps it was a dominance thing. Either way, he was excited to see this Machop try again.

                The two fought and Wartortle won. They fought again and Wartortle won. Wartortle throttled the Machop repeatedly till finally it no longer could stand up. Bruised and broken, the Machop was barely conscious as Torven brought it into the center. This was the first time he had brought in such an injured Pokémon before and the nurse game him an odd look.

                “What happened to him?” She asked, quickly placing the Pokémon on a bed.

                “We were training. It-“ Torven started.

                “He,” she corrected.

                “He wanted to keep going,” Torven said with a sigh. “How long will it – he – take to recover?”

                “A few days. These are some serious wounds,” the nurse said, tending to them. “Next time, be more careful.”

                It was hard for Torven to kill time as he waited around the center. Wartortle grew restless. They sat in the corner of the center, lazing about each day. Torven was frustrated with Machop, but that fire he had shown in his eyes was enough to make him wait. If that Machop kept showing that kind of gusto, then Torven would be lucky to have it. Him, he corrected himself. Checking his Dex, he realized that there was a trainer profile. Amused, he checked his own.

                “Ace Trainer, huh? That describes me pretty well,” Torven mused. “I’m pretty much the best in these parts. With any luck, they will get tougher later.”

                Wartortle growled in confirmation. Torven then noticed he could even scan other people. He scanned a few kids and saw they had the School Boy tag. Interested, he started scanning the people in the center. The nurse was clearly a nurse, while the martial artist who entered was a martial artist.

Torven was annoyed. It was just telling him what he could tell just by looking. The kids had been different, but so many trainers dressed the part that he couldn’t help but sigh.

“What, do I have to go wear a one-piece leotards now that I’m an Ace Trainer,” Torven laughed.

Scanning the hiker as he came in, Torven jokingly said hiker. However, he was greeted with an odd screen.

“Breeder specialist?” Torven said with a confused look. “What even is that?”

Torven knew that there were many people out there who paid top dollar for perfectly bred Pokémon, especially in competition. Perhaps this was one such person. It would behoove Torven to start making connections now. Standing up from his seat, he went over to greet the hiker.

“Hello sir!” Torven said, trying his best at having a cheery voice. “I believe that we might have business.”

“Oh, hello. How can I help you?” The hiker replied with a hearty laugh. “Oh, you’re a youngin’ aren’t ya?”

“Just became a trainer less than a month ago,” Torven confirmed. “I’m looking to become one of the top trainers in the world. I think you can help me.”

“How is that?” The man asked, confused. “I’m not much of a fighter myself.”

“Well, I scanned you with my Dex and it said you are a specialist Breeder,” Torven said, showing him. “I know many top trainers will breed for their perfect Pokémon. I figured it would be good to introduce myself now as you could help me in the future.

Unbeknownst to Torven, he set off a reaction. The hiker’s face changed from a smile to a scowl immediately.

“Not so loud,” but it was too late.

Torven noticed as every trainer in the room took their Dex out to scan him. He growled as many of them gave him a disgusted look. Torven heard whispers around him as they spoke about the hiker.

“What is going on?” Torven asked, looking around.

“Thanks a lot kid,” the hiker huffed before quickly leaving the room.

The hiker left as the talking continued. Torven watched, perplexed as to what had happened. Looking over at Wartortle, he noticed the turtle simply shrug.

“What an odd interaction,” Torven spoke to himself, heading back to his bench. “I guess specialists are like celebrities.”

Silently, the nurse behind the counter contemplated telling him what it was, but figured he was enough of a jerk that it was funnier to just let him be. Besides, if he kept going, he would most likely run into such things as it were.

                After a few days of boredom, Machop was ready to go. Excited to finally get back to starting his journey, Torven headed back into Rock tunnel, his two companions close behind. The league wasn’t ready for Torven.


	2. Machoke's the Ma-Champ!

Torven had long studied this route and what he would do. Catching Gastly and Growlithe, he used them both to defeat the next two gym leaders. Growlithe was too much for Erika, blasting through her team without breaking a sweat.

Next up was Sabrina who fell to Gastly. Gastly was strong enough at the end to evolve to Haunter. He fought through the route towards Koga’s poison gym, evolving Machop as he did.

When he walked out of the gym, badge in hand, Torven smiled in satisfaction. He sat in the Fuchsia City Pokémon Center, holding out his Pokedex.

“Alright, so we need to evolve Machoke into Machamp,” Torven said to his Wartortle who was at his side. “Speaking of which, you’re pretty close to evolving.”

Wartortle nodded his head. As Torven looked up, he saw Jade approaching him. He had to think for a moment before realising who she was. He caught her name right as she arrived at him. She looked different, maybe her clothes? Her hair was definitely longer. Torven was lost in thought as she cleared her throat.

“Hello,” she said, curtly.

“Do you need something?” Torven asked, looking at her confused.

“I came to ask you for some help,” Jade said, rolling her eyes. “As much as I hate to admit it.”

“Not interested,” Torven said, shrugging and pulling back out his Pokedex.

Jade’s eyes opened wide. She let out a shocked gasp, looking at Torven. She put her hands on her hips before nearly yelling at him.

“You haven’t even heard what I need you for yet, idiot!” Jade yelled.

Torven just muttered, continuing to look at evolution requirements. He noticed that Machoke and Haunter both needed to be traded to evolve. That would be a problem. However, before he could come up with a solution, his pokedex was knocked out of his hand. Jade slapped it into the floor. It fell with a loud clack. Torven looked up, a fierce expression on his face.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Torven shouted, but before he could finish his sentence, he was slapped across the face.

“Idiot, we don’t have time for this!” She yelled.

Torven fell to the side. He came back, ready to start shouting as he held his Machoke’s pokeball. Before he could respond, he suddenly heard an eerie silence. The other center customers had gone completely silent, watching the couple fight. Torven looked around at all of them, noticing the nurse had pulled out a phone. She wasn’t talking as she watched them intently.

“Okay, whatever, let’s go,” Torven shrugged, standing up to follow her.

“Really?” Jade asked and then smiled. “Alright, let’s go.”

~

“So, what’s the deal,” Torven said, begrudgingly following the girl back towards Rock Tunnel. 

He didn’t really know why he was still following her at this point. She was weak and an annoyance, as far as he was concerned. Still, the way those people at the center had looked at him, he felt guilty. Imagine that, he was assaulted and now he wanted to apologize. Torven silently lamented at his own weakness.

“Look, I just needed a strong trainer,” Jade said. “You’re the toughest guy around these parts that I also know. So I figured I’d ask you.”

“That doesn’t answer what you want me to do,” Torven said, sighing. 

“Recently, there has been an opening in Rock Tunnel. It looks pretty dangerous down there, lots of unknown pokemon. There are a few trainers willing to go down there, for research purposes, but they aren’t exactly the toughest guys around,” Jade explained. “That’s where you come in.”

“You want me to protect some nerds while they study rocks?” Torven asked. “Hard pass.”

“Not just any rocks, possible fossils,” Jade growled. “If you assist them, they promise to reward you with a fossil of your own.”

“A fossil huh? Sounds useless,” Torven crossed his arms.

“Yeah a near priceless artifact that could be brought back to life. Absolutely useless,” Jade joked, arriving at the cave.

“Near priceless you say?” Torven said with a smile.

Without any warning, Haunter suddenly appeared from his Pokeball. It suddenly flew around Torven, grabbing his shoulder and pointing towards the cave. Jade laughed as Torven looked disgusted.

“What? You want me to help her?” Torven asked.

Haunter nodded it’s head, looking at him with glee.

“Looks like your Haunter knows a deal when she sees one,” Jade giggled.

“She?” Torven looked at the Haunter.

Haunter nodded, blushing ever so slightly. Torven shook his head, holding up the pokeball to return her. With Haunter returned, Torven turned back to Jade. At this point, he figured it wasn’t completely worthless for him to do this job. Jade smiled and thanked him. He had to admit, she wasn’t half bad when she wasn’t being annoying all the time.

The two of them along with Wartortle, walked into the cave. It was dark the last time Torven had been here, but now it was well lit. Five archaeologists were set up around the room. The first one walked up to introduce himself. He looked like the others, but much fatter. Torven cringed as the behemoth approached him.

“Thank you so much for your help. I promise to reward you handsomely for this,” Torven swore he could hear the man’s breath strain from the simple walking. “My name is Elijah. Yours?”

He extended his hand. Torven looked at Jade, a look of horror painted on his face. Jade nodded towards the man to shake his hand.

“Torven,” he said, begrudgingly taking the outstretched palm. “The pleasure is all mine.”

Just the words stung in his throat. Wartortle looked at him with a smirk. Torven silently shot him a glare. He was already fed up with this place, but the thought of making money just seemed to enticing to him. Plus, the second he thought about leaving, he could immediately feel Haunter’s ball move. Stuck by his Pokemon’s desires, Torven continued this horrific interaction.

Elijah smiled, nodding his head and then showing him down to the new tunnel. Looking at it, it was very dark, but Torven immediately heard low grumbling.

“During some research late last week, an earthquake hit, knocking this hole in this wall. The Pokemon below were very disturbed to find us down there. They even attacked us despite all efforts to hold them back!” Elijah exclaimed. “Rock Tunnel isn’t typically that unsafe besides the marauding Onyx, but what we saw down there was crazy.”

“Why not just wait till the Pokemon calm down, then go in looking for fossils,” Torven said with a shrug.

“Restless geodude could destroy the fossils. We need to recover them as quickly as possible. Thousands of years of research could go away just like that,” Elijah said with a snap of his fingers. “We will pay you with one of the fossils we find if you keep us safe while we excavate and move them all to safety.”

“I get to choose the fossil,” Torven argued.

“Unless there is only one of them,” Elijah replied, crossing his arms. “We can’t let you have a singular specimen.”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Torven sighed, pulling out his Pokeballs. “But this better be worth it. Machoke! Growlithe! Haunter! It’s time to get to work.”

Heading down the path first, Torven saw Wartortle take the lead. Meanwhile, Growlithe yawned behind him while Haunter sat on his shoulders. It didn’t bother Torven to have the Haunter that near him, but did seem to bother the nerds. They walked a good distance behind him. In between the two groups, was Jade. She held a light up for the group so that the darkness wouldn’t be too encroaching. 

“Why does your Haunter smell like lilacs?” Jade asked.

“I have no clue. I thought they all smelled like death,” Torven shrugged.

The Haunter let out a wheezing laugh as it settled in around Torven’s neck.

Entering into the bottom room, Torven felt his shoes sink ever so slightly. Looking at the ground, he saw many tiny sparkles from the light. Sand. He also heard some kind of running water and wind. It was weird to hear these sounds down in the pitch black of this room.

Spreading out Machoke and Wartortle, Torven beckoned the rest of the group down. As Jade stepped into the sand, her foot slipped. She fell backwards. Torven reacted instinctively, catching her by the back as she fell. He caught her before she could hit the ground, her hair leaning out behind her to touch the sand ever so slightly. Torven looked at her face, flushed with confusion. Suddenly, Torven came back to reality.

“You’re welcome,” he said, quickly pulling her back to her feet and turning away. “Alright, Machoke and Wartortle, set a perimeter. I don’t want any surprises.”

The room was large with the sand across the ground. Looking around, there didn’t appear to be any Pokemon nearby, however, there were many different holes throughout the room in different walls. They all looked much too small for people, but Torven assumed pokemon moved through it. The ceiling was composed of many pillars of stone that jut out towards the ground. To his surprise, there weren’t any Zubats up there.

“I guess the coast is clear,” Torven shrugged. “Tell the nerds to start doing their work.”

Jade relayed the message, albeit nicer than Torven had said it. The group came down, searching around in every corner. Finally, they started to chip away at different walls. Torven decided to investigate the room a bit more. It felt like he could walk mostly anywhere, but the walls were so uneven, it was hard to see the entire room. Coming around the corner, he saw the water he was thinking about earlier. 

Coming out of the wall and falling to a pool below, was a small waterfall. Wartortle looked at it closely as Torven gazed down into the water. It looked like there wasn’t much of an issue, so he called them back around the corner to be closer to the nerds.

Below the water, sat a Pokemon watching Torven’s every move. It was prepared to strike, but had waited. It was not time yet. It yearned to stretch it’s muscles. 

~

The group was working in the cave. Torven was bored, leaned up against the wall. He set his bag next to the nerds before staking his post here. Growlithe walked over, attempting to get on his lap. Torven angrily pushed him off. Growlithe flopped onto the ground, his tongue sticking out of his face. He rolled over, looking at Torven.

“You can’t lay in my lap,” Torven replied, crossing his arms.

Growlithe looked at him then walked over beside him. He lay down next to Torven, snuggling up against him. Torven rolled his eyes when he suddenly felt a nudging on his arm. Looking down, Growlithe pushed his head in between his crossed arms.

“What are you…” Torven said as Growlithe put one paw on his lap. “No.”

Growlithe whined, moving closer. Torven released his head to cross his arms again.

“No.”

More whining, both paws on his lap.

“No!”

Growlithe’s entire front half was now on Torven’s lap.

“Stop!”

Growlithe was laying on top of Torven. He breathed slowly to calm himself down as the Growlithe yawned before curling up in his lap. He noticed Jade looking at him. Jade giggled before turning back to the archaeologists. With that, Torven quickly pushed the fire pup off his lap onto the ground. Growlithe whined again.

Before the epic battle could continue, the entire group felt a low rumble. Then they started hearing Pokemon cries throughout the room.

“Torven, you’re up!” Elijah shouted before turning to the others. “Save what we can while he buys us time!”

Torven stood up, still hearing the sounds echo around him. They were clearly getting closer. He snapped his growlithe awake. The pup yawned and stretched as he stood. His eyes looked sleepy.

“Time to get to work Growlithe,” Torven said. “Let’s find our enemy.”

From the far side of the room, the rumbling got louder. Slowly the wall shook as rolling could be heard. A group of geodudes popped out of the wall, screeching as they did so.

“Wartortle, far wall! Bubblebeam widespread!” Torven commanded.

Wartortle immediately doused the group, pushing them back. Meanwhile, he saw zubats.fly through a smaller hole. Directing Growlithe towards them, he quickly shot flames across the group, making them back off. Haunter intercepted a few sandshrew, knocking them out as he went. 

Finally, the rumbling stopped. The ground burst open as a metallic snake ripped into the center of the room. It flew straight into the ceiling, roaring as it did so. The room started to collapse around them immediately.

“Okay, no time, let’s go!” Elijah shouted.

The group picked up and ran for the exit as rocks fell around them. Jade lead them out as a few of them struggled. Geodudes ran over to attack them with zubats ahead. As the massive snake disappeared into the ceiling, Torven noticed another Pokemon coming out of the ground. Sitting there was was a rock Pokemon. Torven pulled out his Pokedex to identify it. He was staring down a Golem. 

“Machoke go!” Machoke ran in at the Golem.

The Golem quickly withdrew to defend itself, but Machoke slammed into it. The Golem was sent spiralling away from them. It was then that Torven realized it’s actual plan.

“It’s gonna blow!” Torven shouted as the Pokemon lit up.

He dove for cover, but knew he was too close to the blast zone. He felt the blast before he heard it. With that, he felt the world fade to black as it lashed across his back.

~

Coming to slowly, Torven shook his head. He looked up to see his Machoke was right beside him. He remembered what had happened as he quickly sat up, brushing his arms in shock. Machoke smiled as Torven realized he just had minor burn marks with a few scrapes and bruises. He also was up against a wall that he didn’t recognize. Sitting up, he saw that Machoke was quivering. Machoke slid off to his side, sitting on the ground next to Torven. There were in a completely different cavern than before. It was dark, but Torven lit it up with a flashlight. Looking around, he didn’t recognize anything.

Looking over at his Pokemon, Torven noticed it’s back was black from the blast. That was when he realized what had happened. Machoke had jumped over to shield him. Torven was in shock at his Machoke, who was still smiling at him.

“Machoke, that was impressive,” he said. “You saved my life.”

Machoke gave him a thumbs up, even as it coughed up some blood. Torven realized his muscle buddy was hurt as he reached for his backpack. No dice, it wasn’t there. Looking around the room, Torven recalled setting it down with the nerds. 

“Crap, of course I did that,” Torven said, patting his head.

He realized he still had his belt as well as his pokeballs. Unfortunately for him, they were all empty. Of course that meant that his Pokemon were scattered throughout these underground tunnels, which made his life even harder. He stood up, feeling his leg wince from some pain in it. Looking down, he realized his ankle was sprained. Walking was going to be difficult, but not impossible. Torven didn’t believe in impossible.

He took a few steps and felt his leg give out. Torven fell on his face in the ground, his body still tired. He started to stand up again when he felt a hand push him down. He looked around behind him to see Machoke.

“What are you doing?” Torven spat.

Machoke let out a low huff, pushing him down again. Torven rolled over onto his back. Machoke stared at him. He put his hands underneath him, and Machoke pushed him back down.

“Fine, I’ll stay down. But we gotta go so I can’t stay here forever,” Torven said.

Machoke nodded, reaching for his pants. The Pokemon ripped off a part of his pants, much to Torven’s protest. It then started to wrap his ankle with it tightly in a splint of sorts. With that done, Torven was pulled up to his feet. It wasn’t much, but he could walk on it.

“Thanks, Machoke,” Torven nodded. “You’re pretty cool.”

Machoke gave him two thumbs up as well as a smile. With that completed, Torven just needed to find a way out of this place. He also noticed that Machoke was very injured. He’d return the fighting type, but not knowing what dangers lay in wait, it was safer to keep him out. He vowed that Machoke would earn a nice long rest after this.

Torven walked through the first cavern, looking around the room. It didn’t look familiar, but he did hear running water. Deciding it was worth a shot, he quickly went towards it with Machoke in tow. 

The pair walked through small tunnels and large tunnels, moving around bends as they made their way to it. Occasionally, they would hear a Pokemon’s cry here or there, but otherwise it wasn’t much. Finally, arriving at the sound of the water, Torven was relieved.

It was the waterfall from before. He smiled, knowing that meant the rest of the cave was right around the corner. He walked towards it, even hearing someone talking. Clearly it was the people looking for him. 

Suddenly, a white fist reached out of the water, grabbing his foot. He whirled around as a Poliwrath came out of the water. It went to slam him when Machoke caught it in the side with a fist. Torven was dropped back to the ground as the the two squared off. Torven stood to fight, but saw Machoke falter in it’s stance. He went to call out an attack when the Poliwrath attacked first. Machoke was blown off the ground by what appeared to be some sort of water punch. The two of them was thrown down the hall, Machoke landing on top of Torven before bouncing off.

Torven let out a cry of pain as the Poliwrath walked up in front of him. Torven heard somebody start talking, but it was hard to makeout as his vision was blurred from the impact.

“What’s this? Friends of yours?” The man asked, now standing directly over Torven.

“I don’t know who that is,” a familiar voice came, quivering and shortly.

Torven didn’t recognize the man standing over him. He was bald with a black trenchcoat on. The room had a single light in the corner, so making out other features was impossible. He reached up and scratched his beard, looking at Torven. Across the room, Torven saw the steel snake from before. It was curled up, looking to the corner. Following his gaze, Torven saw Elijah sitting there.

He looked hurt, bloody, and overall in a bad condition. He was the opposite side of the entrance that Torven saw was now blocked by a cave in. Regardless, Torven looked up at the man as he spoke.

“You’re just some kid? Why are you running around here?” He asked.

“Just exploring. What about you?” Torven asked.

Suddenly, the man kicked Torven in the side. He let out a cough. Machoke stirred next to him, but still didn’t move. As Torven raced to catch his breath, the man smiled. This wasn’t just some trainer. This man was a threat. At his full power, Torven wasn’t sure if he could win even a normal battle with this man. The cards were not in his favor.

“I’m here to take these fossils in the name of Team Void. You’re some snot nosed brat who is in my way right now,” the man said. 

As the man spoke, Torven noticed a flash in the light. The man didn’t seem to notice, but Torven immediately smelled a familiar scent. Lilacs.

“We need these fossils and this crew decided to steal them, after all our hard work! Can you believe that?” The man sighed. “I can’t. So now I’m asking him where all my fossils went, but he doesn’t seem to know.”

Torven felt Machoke twitch next to him. Torven softly touched his arm, hoping the slight push down would be all he needed to make sure Machoke didn’t do anything stupid. Haunter had a plan, he hoped. It would be best if he acted when Haunter did.

“How about you?” The man asked, turning towards Torven. “Do you know where my fossils are?”

“What are you talking about?” Torven asked.

The man kicked him again, causing Torven to shout out in pain. It was at that moment, the light went out.

“Machoke, now!” Torven shouted into the dark.

He heard a roar from the steel snake and a blast of energy. He felt the ground break beside him as Machoke smashed into the Poliwrath. The man let out a yelp and Torven scrambled to his feet. He had to go for the entrance. As he ran, the light came back to reveal he was going the right way. 

Finally having a chance to scan it, he saw the Steelix roaring in confusion before burrowing away. Haunter flew up beside him with Machoke right behind.

The entrance was still blocked with rocks, but Haunter fired a ball into it, blasting them away. With that, Torven and Haunter were quickly into the upward cavern. The Steelix was causing issues as the cavern could be felt shaking once again. Looking back, Torven saw Elijah across the room. He had stood up, standing up between the exit and the Poliwrath. The Pokemon had tried to pursue, but Elijah was in the way.

“Go on without me! You’ll be safe!” Elijah shouted.

“Shut him up, Poliwrath!” The man shouted as Poliwrath looked over at the defenseless person.

Torven saw Machoke still behind them. They had to leave. They could get help for Elijah later, but there was no way they could beat a Poliwrath right now as the cavern caved in around him.

“Let’s go Machoke!” Torven shouted.

Machoke looked back at him, then back at the Poliwrath. Torven shouted again, but Machoke just looked back. He felt it before he saw it. A feeling of power and drive. Machoke wasn’t leaving anyone behind.

A growl on his face and his fists clenched, Machoke pushed off the ground, intercepting Poliwrath. The first hit between the two, they collided, fist to fist, in a blast of water and power. Machoke took another step, turning his body to collide with Poliwrath again. They did this again,each hit had more power than the last as they exchanged blows.

“Haunter, go help him! I got Elijah!” Torven shouted.

Haunter flew in at Poliwrath. Poliwrath pushed off Machoke, making the fighting type defend the water punch again. As it turned, Haunter fired a blast into Poliwrath. The water type quickly returned fire, connecting with the Haunter head on. Haunter was blasted across the room in an instant. Torven pulled out his ball, returning the KOed ghost. It was getting bad.

He grabbed Elijah, pulling him back. Machoke squared off with Poliwrath once more.

“Machoke, we gotta go!” Torven said as the ceiling came down around them.

Machoke just gave Torven a smile and thumbs up.

“Machoke?” Torven said, feebly.

With that, Machoke and Poliwrath collided once more. The first hit let out a blast of wind as they did so. The two powerhouses crashed against each other again and again. Letting Elijah up the stairs, Torven couldn’t leave behind his fighting type. He came back down. Machoke was hit across the head, sent reeling backwards. He caught himself, coming back in at the Poliwrath.

“Left hook!” Torven shouted.

Machoke complied, coming in at Poliwrath from the left. The two exchanged blows again. Machoke looked dizzy as it fell backwards.

“Machoke we aren’t done yet!” Torven cried.

Machoke’s eyes focused as he caught himself, facing Poliwrath again.

“You can’t be seriously fighting at a time like this,” the Team Void member said. “You’ll lose.”

“Not together we won’t! Machoke let’s go!” Torven roared defiantly.

The two moved as one as Machoke exchanged blows with Poliwrath again. This time, though, Poliwrath was being pushed back. It was knocked off balance as Torven came to life again. 

“Go low! Use his momentum against him!” Torven yelled.

Machoke swept the legs. As Poliwrath fell, Machoke came down hard on him. 

“Submission!” Torven commanded.

The blast from the impact shook the ground once again. Poliwrath was crushed into the ground as Machoke stood over him. With victory in hand, Torven quickly returned his Pokemon before taking off up the cavern.

As the hole closed around him, Torven dove out of it into the Rock Tunnel. Surrounding him was the other nerds and Jade. Elijah was being tended to already. Seeing all these faces, Torven felt a glimmer of happiness. He had survived. Before he could even say anything, he recalled how injured Machoke had been.

“Heal him, please,” Torven muttered, handing the ball to Jade.

Then he collapsed before Wartortle and Growlithe could embrace him.

~

Waking up in a bed, Torven tried to sit up, but his whole body groaned in defiance. He looked around the dark room, trying to remember where he was. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to him. His mouth was dry. He noticed there was a cup of water next to him. He reached for it and as he did he felt something stir beneath his bed. 

Suddenly, he saw Growlithe hop onto the foot of his bed. It looked at him, tail wagging.

“What are you looking at?” His voice creaked out. “Get off.”

His legs barely moved. The Growlithe barked before curling up and lying down on his legs. Torven then saw Wartortle poke his head over the side of the bed. He looked concerned.

The door opened up, to reveal one of the nurses and Jade. The nurse came in with a chart and Jade with a box.

“Oh good, he’s awake. Feel free to visit with him if you’d like,” the nurse nodded, before leaving the room.

Jade walked over, pulling a chair up beside him. Torven glared at her, before reaching for his water and taking a quick swig. Jade went to talk, but Torven stopped her as he finished the drink. Finally, the glass empty, he let out a satisfied sigh. 

“You did a good thing, Torven,” Jade said, smiling. “I wanted to thank you.”

 

“Well, you’re welcome. I never even got my fossil,” Torven rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I have two presents for you,” Jade said with a slight laugh. 

“Oh yeah, let’s hear them,” Torven replied.

Jade held out a pokeball to Torven. Torven looked at for a second before taking it. He noticed it was one of his.

“Where did you get this?” Torven asked.

“Just open it,” Jade replied.

Torven opened it up. Out came his old friend in a new form, Machamp.

“Oh my god how did you evolve?” Torven exclaimed.

Machamp flexed as Torven exclaimed. Jade laughed.

“You gave him to me after the cave, so he just kinda evolved,” Jade answered. “Now he’s back to you, all yours.”

Torven thanked her before returning Machamp. He didn’t realize it, but he had thanked another trainer. He felt good about it, but didn’t want her to think he was too excited. Instead, he simply put down the Pokeball without anymore emotion. Jade then held forward the box to him.

“From the nerds, as you say,” Jade said. 

Torven opened it up to reveal a large stone. It looked dark orange. He had no clue what it was, but if they said it was priceless then he believed them. With that, he sat back down in bed, Growlithe still on his feet.

“Well, did they say how long I need to be here?” Torven asked.

“Just till tomorrow,” Jade said, standing up. “Then you’ll be good as new.”

Jade walked towards the door. She grabbed the handle when suddenly, Torven called out to her.

“Wait, how did you know I was in this area?” Torven asked.

Jade shrugged before letting out a slight giggle.

“Just lucky I guess,” she said before leaving.


	3. The Haunting Thief

“The battle tower will be ready for the long awaited, Kanto-Johto Masters tournament,” the TV said as Torven watched. “With us today, we are joined by Doctor James Algernon.”

With that, the news anchor gestured to his guest, an older man with long gray hairs. He wore a suit that was clean pressed and looked more expensive than most homes. Rolling his eyes, Torven couldn’t possibly care about this man. However, he wanted to compete in this tournament and it was imperative that he learn how to enter in it. All the best trainers would be there, including Red and Gold. So despite wanting nothing more than to turn it off, he left it on.

“Doctor, you would you please explain to us why you wanted to build this tower,” the interviewer asked.

“It’s simple, to have something for our prestigious league battlers here in Kanto and our sister region of Johto to reliably go to for their massive tournament battles,” the doctor explained. “Similarly, I have decided to harness the power that these battles create.”

“What do you mean by that, doctor?” 

“Well when Pokemon battle, they let off bursts of power in every ability. A lot of this energy doesn’t hit it’s target and is let off as latent energy into the surroundings. With a controlled environment like this, I can harness that energy and study uses for it,” the doctor explained.

“Could you explain how to us?”

“Certainly, see we only have a small battery right now for storage, but we are working on the funding for it as we speak-”

Torven turned it off. All that tech junk was boring to him. He would go crazy if he had to be here any longer, just sitting in this bed. He felt completely fine and he knew at any point that a nurse would come by. The door creaked open. Just as he had hoped it a was a nurse.

~

Walking outside the center, Torven checked his belt. Wartortle, Machamp, Haunter, and Growlithe all ready to go. He hadn’t battled in a few days. Luckily for him, just the guy was waiting.

“Yo, are your Torven?” A dark haired male trainer asked, approaching him.

“Yeah, what of it,” Torven responded.

The trainer through back his cloak, showing off his own Pokeballs.

“I’ve been told you’re pretty tough,” he said. “Name’s Drake. I wanted to battle you.”

“You’ve been told right,” Torven smiled, pulling out his Pokedex. “What are the rules?”

“Three versus three, singles,” Drake said. 

Torven accepted the battle. He pulled out his Growlithe. Tossing the ball, the fire pup popped out with a relaxed yawn. Drake smiled, tossing out his Nidorino.

“Nidorino use Double Kick!” Drake commanded.

Torven stepped in, pulling his ball for Machamp. The Machamp came out, immediately jumping in front of Growlithe, who was swiftly returned.

“A switch already?” Drake laughed.

The kicks landed, but Machamp stood strong. In retaliation, Machamp grabbed hold of the Nidorino.

“Revenge!” Torven commanded.

With that order, Machamp smashed the Nidorino against the ground, knocking it out instantly. Drake never hesitated, returning the Pokemon to respond with a Kadabra. Torven reached for his next Pokeball, but Machamp charged in anyways.

“Psychic!’ Drake shouted.

The blast picked up the fighting Pokemon and tossed him like a doll to Torven’s side. He was out. 

“You should’ve waited for me to switch you, damnit,” Torven growled, tossing out Wartortle. “You’re up.”

“Like your turtle could possibly defeat my psychic,” Drake laughed.

With that Wartortle charged in. The psychic attack slammed into him, but he held on. Powering through, Wartortle reached Kadabra.

“Bite attack!”

Wartortle bit down, picking up Kadabra to slam it into the ground. Wartortle released himself and Torven smiled at the last TM they had gotten.

“Bubblebeam, point blank!”

Wartortle was already on it, blasting the Kadabra right in its face with the barrage of bubbles. Kadabra responded in kind with another psychic. Wartortle took the hit, the same couldn’t be said for Kadabra

Returning Kadabra, Drake’s last Charmeleon came out. Scoffing,Torven knew he had this in the bag. 

“Bubblebeam!” Torven shouted.

The Wartortle obeyed, blasting the Charmeleon. However, the fire lizard was quick. It dodged, zigging and zagging till it reached Wartortle. Catching him in the head with a scratch, Wartortle looked shocked as it fell.

“It’s not over yet,” Drake smiled.

“Growlithe, let’s go!” Torven shouted, returning Wartortle and then sending out the Growlithe.

Growlithe came out with a yawn once again. He looked around sleepily as Charmeleon blasted it with an ember. 

“Growlithe, c’mon get you head in the game!” Torven shouted.

Growlithe stood slowly, brushing off the fire attack. He turned his gaze to the Charmeleon, lazily licking its lips.

“Get in there!” Torven commanded.

Charmeleon responded again with an ember. Growlithe took it, looking a bit worse this time. He started to trot towards the Charmeleon

“Get some pep in your step!” Torven shouted.

Still no response as Growlithe took more embers as it approached. The last one made it stop and pant for a moment. Drake smiled, this would be an easy win.

“Finish it off with scratch!” Drake commanded.

The Charmeleon came in. Torven desperately yelled a command, but the attack hit true. However, Growlithe didn’t fall. Instead, it spun around, slamming it’s hand legs into the fire lizard. The attack’s power was massive, smashing Charmeleon into the ground and causing a slight rumble.

“Reversal?” Torven muttered, confused as he checked Growlithe on his Pokedex.

However, no sooner had Growlithe attacked as he too fell to the ground. With that, the Pokedex declared the battle a draw. Torven’s perfect record was now tarnished.

“You’re kidding? A draw? Seriously!” Torven screamed.

“Well I would’ve won if you’re Growlithe didn’t power through that last hit,” Drake said.

“Well I got another Pokemon still so I would win easy,” Torven replied.

“Same,” Drake said, pulling out his next pokemon. “I’ll beat you anytime, nerd.”

“You’re really getting on my nerves,” Torven said, shouting back. “I’m going to go heal my Pokemon and try again.”

“Same! Then we’ll know who's the better trainer!” Drake responded in defiance.

The next few minutes were awkward as the two of them healed their pokemon. They stared daggers at each other the entire time. Finally the Pokemon were done.

“Three versus three!” Torven threw out his Wartortle.

“Singles!” Drake replied, throwing out his Nidorino.

This time Torven used Haunter and Drake used his Eevee. However, the result…

“Draw!” The Pokedex announced as Machamp and Charmeleon both fell to the ground.

“Ridiculous!” Torven shouted.

“No way!” Drake returned.

The process was repeated multiple times after. Each time, no matter the start or who was used, it all ended the same. Eevee and Wartortle falling, Haunter and Charmeleon falling, Machamp and Nidorino falling. It didn’t matter, but they kept fighting. Finally as there were healing, Torven made a comment.

“Well I can get to Saffron first,” Torven muttered.

“You’re on!” Drake said, slamming his fist on the table.

The two grabbed their Pokemon and were off immediately. 

Racing through route 8, the two trainers ran at top speed. They avoided all trainers and Pokemon, only wanting to surpass each other on their race. The two of them rumbled into Saffron just in time for the sun to set. 

Torven rolled over, falling onto the ground as he breathed heavily. Drake was on his knees beside him.

“I got here first,” Drake growled between breaths.

“Yeah right,” Torven replied, still fighting to breathe.

“Fine! First one to Celadon,” Drake said, struggling to stand up.

“Your on,” Torven replied, rolling over to his chest.

He tried to push himself up and collapsed, getting a taste of dirt in his mouth. Drake laughed, taking a step and falling into the ground as well. 

“Ten minute break?” Drake asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Torven replied.

The two of them caught their breath as they lay there. Multiple people walked past them, not bothering to see what the two random kids in the street were doing. One of those people stopped, looking down on them.

“You guys just lying around?” The girl asked with a slight giggle.

Torven looked up at her, recognizing the voice. Drake did as well, his eyes opening in surprise.

“Jade!” Both of them shouted. 

“What are you doing here?” Drake retorted.

“How did you know where we were?” Torven shouted. 

“Wait, you know her?” The two then responded to each other.

“Does she follow you around as well?” Drake asked.

“Yeah, she does!” Torven replied. “She just happens to show up for no reason.”

Jade giggled, shaking her head. The two of them fumed before a moment before looking at her.

“Do you want some help guys?” Jade said with a smile.

The two of them exchanged glances. They then tried to sit up again, but both failed at their attempts. After a short fight, they both fell back down. With that, the two of them agreed to accept some help. Jade smiled one more time and helped them both up to the Pokemon Center.

After sitting and relaxing for a bit, they were once again ready to compete.

“Let’s battle it out again!” Drake said.

“If you’re ready to lose, then I’m all in!” Torven replied.

Lightning shot from their eyes at each other. Jade rolled her eyes, stepping in between the two boys. 

“So let me get this straight, you guys have been competing all day?” Jade said. “Now, you’re getting ready to battle again? Have your Pokemon even had any rest?” 

Torven looked down at the ball. He had pushed them pretty hard. It was possibly a good idea to try something else.

“Alright,” Drake admitted, putting his ball back on his belt. “But I will beat you.”

“Right back at you,” Torven said in response.

“You know you guys could try something less...physical?” Jade suggested.

Once they exchanged glances again, they returned to Jade for an answer. The girl just laughed and then ushered them out the doors. 

Jade lead them across route 7. It was a short walk, but silent in the night sky. Everytime one of them spoke up, she silenced them, keeping in the surprise. They arrived at Goldenrod, still following Jade. They walked around the corner and then stopped at a building with a bright sign above it. Blazed into the sky was the Game Corner.

“It’s a casino. See who can win the most tokens,” Jade explained. “Winner gets the best prize from the neighboring building.”

“So, we just compete to see who wins the most tokens?” Torven asked and Jade nodded her head. “That’s stupid.”

“You’re just chicken cause you know I’ll win,” Drake responded.

Jade didn’t even need to respond as Torven immediately wheeled around on Drake. The gauntlet had been thrown. With that, the challenge began. Both competitors raced into the casino. The carpet was clean as well as the rest of the building. Despite many people smoking and drinking, it didn’t smell like either. Vents placed strategically around the building kept them contained. 

There were bright machines going off that loudly exploded as people played them. People were surrounding tables, throwing dice as they did. Cheers and shouts could be heard throughout. It was a startling thing to come into.

At first, neither of them seemed to understand the tokens, so they had to purchase a few. Once that was done, they faced each other one last time.

“Ten tokens each?” Drake asked.

“First to a thousand?” Torven replied.

“I’m game,” Drake said. “Let’s go!”

Finally, the battle for the most tokens began. Torven raced to a nearby machine. By picking different lines, it had a better payout than normal. He struck true, winning ten more tokens. 

“Ha, this will be over in no time,” Torven said, looking up towards Drake.

As he looked up, the machine Drake was at ringed and shot out what looked like over a hundred tokens. Torven’s eyes bulged as he saw it. Drake looked up, smiling as he did so. This would be a tough battle. 

With that, Torven left to go to another machine. He had no more luck as he lost five tokens. Dismayed, he heard Drake shout in excitement across the room. He changed machines again. Sinking ten tokens into this machine with no payoff, Torven grew frustrated, banging his fist on the machine. He poured in tokens, one by one into his last chance. 

The machine whirred then made a grunt of disapproval as it ate his last token. Torven looked at it, in shock as he did so. He had lost. Drake came by right then, a smug smile on his face.

“I already got myself 350 tokens. How are you doing?” Drake asked.

Torven didn’t respond. Drake’s eyebrow raised as he pushed further.

“Don’t tell me you’re out,” Drake asked.

“I’m not out,” Torven said.

“Then show me what you have,” Drake said, holding out his bag. “This is mine.”

Torven searched his front pockets. Nothing. He searched his jacket pockets. Nothing. He finally reached for his back pockets. Still nothing. He wasn’t surprised but he just didn’t want Drake to know he had lost. Suddenly, he felt something warm against his hand. He quickly pulled it around to look. It was a token. 

“A token?” Torven whispered to himself.

“You only have one? Yeah this will be over soon,” Drake said with a laugh. “This will finally be over.”

With that, Drake left Torven alone, heading off. Torven was still confused at to where this token came from. As he tried to think, he suddenly noticed that Haunter was out of her ball and floating in front of him.

“Woah, where did you come from?” Torven asked.

Haunter just pointed across towards the table from earlier. Looking over there, Torven suddenly realized what had happened.

“You stole this?” Torven asked.

Haunter nodded her head. Torven blinked in shock. He looked at the token then back up at Haunter. But Haunter was already gone. He looked around for her, and spotted her at an empty machine. Haunter looked over at him and smiled before reaching into the machine. It pulled something then gestured for Torven to come over. Torven walked over towards her. Haunter gestured to sit down. Torven followed suit. With that, Haunter pointed towards the stick.

Torven put in his token and pulled the stick. Instant jackpot. Suddenly he had two hundred and fifty tokens. Haunter smiled and Torven looked up at her.

“This is cheating, you know,” Torven said.

Haunter shrugged. She pointed back at the ball, then looked back at Torven. Torven thought for a moment, then suddenly Haunter looked out towards the casino, pointing at another table. With his options given, Haunter looked to him for an answer.

“Alright, fine. Let’s win,” Torven said with a nod. “Just point where to go.”

Haunter smiled and with that they were off. Stealing tokens, Haunter picked it up whenever it was out of sight. Machines sometimes wouldn’t work as Haunter stole them out of the slot. 

Torven walked up to a table, taking the dice. He played his tokens and then tossed the dice. They landed immediately as he wanted, Haunter of course playing a part. Torven walked away, five hundred tokens richer.

Everything fell before Torven as he went through the casino with a smile. At the end of the night, he found Drake and dropped his bag on the ground at his feet.

“What...how...who...when?” Drake stuttered as he looked at it.

“Thirty-five hundred tokens,” Torven said with a smile. “Read ‘em and weep.”

The challenge won, Drake had no choice but to admit defeat. Torven had bested his rival.


	4. With A Bang!

The masked thief stood outside the closed doors of Silph Co. Inside, he hoped to find the technology that he had been hired to find. A quiet operation, in and out without any witnesses. His smile crept out from behind the Breloom mask, pulling up his hood to hide his hair. 

He reached up to the front door. It was clearly locked, so he would have to use the access port. He pulled out a small device. Scanning the port, he input a few commands into the surface. It loaded for a second before spitting out a few numbers. He input them, opening the door as he did so.

The doors slid open, allowing for the next part of his plan. He rolled out his pokeballs, releasing Ninjask and Sableye. The two looked over at our thief. He pointed inside the room. Sableye smiled as he faded into the shadows, his teeth the last thing that the thief could see. 

A minute passed before Sableye appeared again. He looked over at Ninjask, pointing out across the room. It showed every location for cameras.

“Any psychics?” The thief asked.

Sableye held up a series of fingers in short succession.

“Two on the second floor and three on the top floor. Got it,” the thief said. “You better stay out to run interference.”

With that, it was Ninjask’s turn. It flew around in a circle to gain speed. Finally, it flew into the open doors, disappearing in the darkness. It flew around the room, cutting the feed on every camera as it did so. With that done, the thief quickly rushed into the room. They didn’t have much time till the guards would notice that all the cameras were off. Luckily, he had a map of the building.

“Ninjask, non lethal, fourth floor. Go!” The thief hissed, opening the stairwell door.

With that, the bug was gone. The thief took off up the stairs himself. He had a few stops as he pulled out his shopping list. Looking down it, the first stop was the second floor. Just a few simple batteries was all his employer wanted. That would be easy.

~

Meanwhile on the fourth floor, Ninjask buzzed up, pushing the stairwell door open. It looked around. There were many rooms. Down the hall was a single man. He started to turn around, but Ninjask was much too fast. Behind him in an instant, Ninjask strategically hit him on the neck. The man’s eyes rolled back and he dropped like a rock.

Ninjask quickly and efficiently checked every single room. It would listen to the door for any conversation then buzz to the next one. Finally he got to one.

“Did the network go down?” One voice asked.

“I’ll call security to check it out down there before we sound an alarm,” another voice said. “Billion dollar company and have it’s network drop like that. It’s pathetic.”

“Yeah that first floor lobby seems to have so many issues.”

Ninjask slowly opened the door to it’s unsuspecting victims. 

~

With Sableye concentrating, the thief smiled. This was always his favorite part. Psychic pokemon couldn’t read him with a dark type that was specifically designed to stop that. It was even funnier, though, when it was a psychic person.

With luck, as the thief rounded the corner, he saw a Hypno and a guard. By now, normally, they would have picked up on him. However, that was precisely why he had Sableye. With their psychic powers so tuned to pick up thieves like him, they weren’t that great in situations where they didn’t see it coming. He slipped behind a row, creeping up close on the Hypno. As he did so, he pulled out a small disk. It glowed blue ever so slightly in the darkness of the room. In his other hand, a syringe.

The Hypno hear a slight clack. It looked over, uninterested at the space. Suddenly, the thief came around, shoving the needle into it. Hypno was caught off guard as the thief injected it. The guard whirled around, but the thief threw the disk at him. It latched, on shocking the guard. The guard and Hypno dropped at the same time. Our thief walked over, looking down at the paralyzed man.

“What’s up,” the thief taunted. “You’re a psychic, right?”

The guard could barely open his eyes as the disk had tazed him. He struggled to control himself as his body lashed out of his control. The thief laughed.

“Don’t worry, there isn’t anything wrong with your powers. My buddy made sure that you couldn’t read my mind,” the thief replied as his Sableye appeared next to him. 

The guard’s eyes looked over to the corner. The thief followed as well. There, in the corner, was another camera. He smiled and waved.

On the other side, there were now four unconscious men, the two from before and two more who had come to check on them. Ninjask waved back at the camera as it patrolled the room.   
“Yeah, they won’t matter. Anyways, I gotta get a few things. Sit tight. You should be good in about thirty minutes,” the thief laughed, pulling out a small bag. 

He walked over to the large batteries on the wall. His bag was large enough to hold a few of them. He had lugged it up that far for this reason. He took hold of four of them before putting them in the bag. This level was done. Next up was the fourth level for some information then the development level. His employer wanted some plans. However, that wasn’t his last stop.

On the fourth level, the thief walked into the viewing room. He sat down, pulling out a translucent blue card. He shoved it into the computer and then pulled out his tablet device from before. Scanning the keys, he was given a few key logs to work with. A few tries and he was in the security system of the building. It wasn’t linked to the research side, unfortunately. However, he would access those later.

With that, he pulled out the blue card, keeping his backdoor on the security system open on his tablet. He stepped over the groaning men and pet Ninjask.

“Good job buddy. We’re almost done. At this rate, we may not have to use anyone else,” the thief said.

He walked up the stairs to the development level on the 6th floor. This place looked far more hi-tech than the other levels. Glass doors and walls. The thief hated these things, it was much harder to sneak through. Still, the guards wouldn’t be an issue if they couldn’t see Ninjask coming. 

No psychics and nothing to match his speed, Ninjask disabled each guard they came across in quick succession.

“Alright, we are looking for a computer. Preferably one that hasn’t been used in awhile. Something that maybe the office is vacant currently,” the thief said, explaining to Ninjask. “Meanwhile, Sableye, keep an eye on the door and don’t let your guard down. I don’t want those psychic types above us to pickup that we are here.”

Ninjask and his master started looking through rooms. Each was filled with a desk and some files. Although the files could be lucrative, he knew better than to search through them. He was good, probably the best, but that was a waste of time. Ignoring the cabinets, he sat down at a computer. A small layer of dust on the keys let him know he had hit the jackpot. 

“No keystrokes is always an issue, but it’s worth it for this level of access,” the thief said, going underneath the desk to the tower.

He pulled out a multi-tool and then proceeded to screw off the side. He pulled out a small blue chip. With a bit of force, it stuck to the motherboard. Now he closed the side before sitting back up. Powering up the computer would be risky. He didn’t know what other systems were running so he’d have to wait for a bit. If this computer was on the powergrid for these offices, then it would turn on. Once that happened, he’d have full access as long as nobody was using it. Otherwise, they might notice it log in by itself.

With that, done, he had one last stop. The last floor was a personal need for him. He’d always wanted a masterball.

~

The last psychic fell as Ninjask used it’s x-scissor to defeat it. The guards had no chance, even outnumbering out thief. The last one backed up against a wall, his Machamp out in front of him. 

Machamp reared back, but his fist went right through the Sableye. Sableye smiled as it’s mouth opened wide and bit down. The next hit from Ninjask felled him. The guard was in shock as the trio approached him.

“Who are you?” The guard asked.

“I’m just a thief. A really good thief,” the man said, his smile coming out from his mask. 

“What’s your name?” The guard said next.

“I wouldn’t be a good thief if I said that, now would I?” 

“If you won’t tell me, then I’ll just have to find out myself,” the guard said.

Suddenly a pokeball rolled out from behind him. Out popped an Rhyhorn immediately. Sableye tried to move, but the Rhyhorn smashed it as quickly as possible. With the fog lifted, the guard smiled.

“Veredan,” he muttered.

“Psychic, get him,” Veredan said, dropping out his last pokeball as the psychic invaded his mind.

Ninjask flew in but Rhydon intercepted him. As it went to collide, Ninjask flew up. Behind the bug was a flaming bird. A swift double kick and Rhydon was sent smashing through the meeting room wall.  
Ninjask flew up, knocking out the psychic and releasing Veredan from his grip. Veredan gasped for air as he fell to the ground. He looked over, Sableye was out cold. 

“Good job Blaziken,” Veredan said as the fighting type helped him up and he returned his ghost. “We need to revive Sableye.”

Suddenly, the lights went off. Veredan looked over and saw that the psychic had a red button in his hand. He must’ve hit the alarm right before Ninjask got him. Metal walls came down over the entrances. Looking around, Veredan had to think quickly.

They felt the earth rumble at first. Then the blast. They heard it as it cascaded down the street. The wall ripped across, tearing through the building. Veredan stumbled along with Blaziken as the building buckled over on itself.

“What the hell?” Veredan shouted as the building started to go down.

As the building bent over, Veredan spotted the ground through the window below him. The buildings were destroyed and the pavement was torn to bits. It seemed like the entire block had been vaporized. Veredan was in shock as he started to slip.

Blaziken caught his jacket, pulling him up to stand on the wall as it fell. They needed a plan and fast. But Veredan was in too much shock to do anything. Blaziken waited for orders as the building continued to tip. It chirped, but there was no response from her trainer.

A swift slap knocked Veredan back into the world of the living. His mask flew free, falling down towards the street. His green eyes locked with his Blaziken for a moment, staring at the fiery red. He shook in surprise as he looked at his two pokemon who needed him. With that, he only thought there was one way. He pulled back his jacket, revealing a shiny and multicolored stone. Blaziken looked at it and then back up at her trainer.

“I know it sucks, but this could work,” Veredan said, holding out his hand. “Do you trust me?”

Blaziken nodded, taking her trainer’s hand. A fire burned in her eyes as she readied herself. Veredan returned Ninjask. This could get messy and the less bodies, the better. With that, he swiped his hand across the stone.

“Mega evolve!”

~

The top of Silph Co. was falling. As it bent at almost a ninety degree angle, the entire top part burst into flames. Three floors of molten metal and wood fell to the decimated street below. The blast was icing on the cake for the disaster in Saffron. As people scrambled, they watched the blast. Many pulled out their devices to video tape, while others looked in shock. When emergency services arrived, they had to deal with a collapsing building as well as a fire and all the other destruction. The death toll was staggering. Sifting through the destruction would take all day and night. Even weeks later after rebuilding, nobody would realize that for a moment the alarms had gone off. For a moment, Silph Co. had an invader.

Miles away, hiding in the woods off route, Veredan smiled as he pulled out his haul. Sure, he might’ve lost the chip for access to Silph Co, but he had what he needed. Looking down at the purple ball, he smiled. He still had the batteries to sell and the information he had managed to get as well. Who knows, with enough luck, he might still have some network access. 

With his job done, the thief disappeared into the night.


End file.
